James Carville

There is little to call James Carville that he hasn't been called already: Serpent head. Slimy worm. Bottom-feeder. Court jester. Hatchet man. Pit bull. Corporal Cueball. Product of the love scene in Deliverance. Fish that swam too close to a nuclear reactor. Odious. Foul-mouthed bore. Frothing rabid dog. His deeds, views, looks - it's all fair game, he says. Having done his share of jabbing, Carville's willing to take his licks, or even an occasional pummeling. "I might be," he admits, in good ol' boy drawl, "the single most unsympathetic character in American politics."

The headline "Principled or polarizing" on Juan Williams' op-ed (June 14) was a perfect description! Sen. Elizabeth Warren is principled. Sen. Ted Cruz is polarizing. Ms. Warren is trying to accomplish laws to help the average citizen with no desire for publicity. Mr. Cruz is all about tearing apart citizens while grandstanding on every news show he can. This opinion piece of yours showcases the difference of intention between these two senators more than you realize. P.S.: James Carville is sly like a fox. He would love nothing more than for Republicans to promote Senator Cruz as he underlines the negative for the GOP and garners even more voters for Democrats.

James Carville, an adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson recently exchanged words over Mr. Richardson's endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential primary struggle turned increasingly ugly. Mr. Richardson served as ambassador to the United Nations and as secretary of energy during Bill Clinton's presidency. "Mr. Richardson's endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic."

James Carville, an adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson recently exchanged words over Mr. Richardson's endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential primary struggle turned increasingly ugly. Mr. Richardson served as ambassador to the United Nations and as secretary of energy during Bill Clinton's presidency. "Mr. Richardson's endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic."

Some of America's top chief executive officers will be coming to Annapolis July 12-14 to take part in Forbes business magazine's first CEO Forum.The forum, to be held at Loews Annapolis Hotel, will provide "a rare opportunity for the nation's chief executives to meet their peers across industry lines and exchange ideas on key management, trade and policy issues facing corporate America," Jeffrey M. Cunningham, Forbes' publisher, said in a prepared statement.Among...

The headline "Principled or polarizing" on Juan Williams' op-ed (June 14) was a perfect description! Sen. Elizabeth Warren is principled. Sen. Ted Cruz is polarizing. Ms. Warren is trying to accomplish laws to help the average citizen with no desire for publicity. Mr. Cruz is all about tearing apart citizens while grandstanding on every news show he can. This opinion piece of yours showcases the difference of intention between these two senators more than you realize. P.S.: James Carville is sly like a fox. He would love nothing more than for Republicans to promote Senator Cruz as he underlines the negative for the GOP and garners even more voters for Democrats.

"Stickin': The Case for Loyalty," by James Carville. Simon & Schuster. 176 pages. $16.95. I'm a fan of James Carville, but I wish he hadn't written "Stickin'." The book opens with an attack on a strawman -- the idea that loyalty is somehow a character flaw -- and closes with a chapter on Carville's grandma's recipe for Oyster Loaf. If you don't get the connection, it's because there isn't one. The book offers itself as a case for loyalty. It's really a celebration of celebrity, as in: I'm one, you're not, have a recipe.

By John Woestendiek and John Woestendiek,sun reporter | March 17, 2007

Jessica Simpson. James Carville. Scott Donahoo. The Verizon "Can You Hear Me Now?" Guy. Annoying? To many folks, absolutely. But not irksome enough to get past the first round of The Sun's NCAA-style tournament aimed at picking America's most overexposed celebrity. More than 2,500 readers cast votes online in the first round, and second-round voting is under way. The biggest winners, or, more accurately, losers - those who are voted most annoying advance - were Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Donald Trump, Tom Cruise, Rosie O'Donnell and Ann Coulter, all of whom won in landslides.

James Carville, who molded Bill Clinton's first presidential race around the solid notion "It's the economy, stupid," is one of the executive producers of the new, all-star version of Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1946 novel, All the King's Men. Carville should have pasted a similar slogan on the set of this misguided, maladroit movie: "It's the politics, stupid." The writer-director Steve Zaillian fails the material at the basic level of dramatizing the bond between a people's politician and the people.

JAMES CARVILLE went to bed drunk and woke up a genius.The raffish strategist of Harris Wofford's stunning 10-point victory over Dick Thornburgh in the U.S. Senate race -- the Political Earthquake of 1991 -- deserved a one-night blast.Carville, an offbeat, workaholic rogue, not only invented the Wofford campaign that dazzled Pennsylvanians and struck fear in George Bush's heart. Following his dictum -- "never mess with fate" -- Carville had even worn the same underwear the last 10 campaign days.

By John Woestendiek and John Woestendiek,sun reporter | March 17, 2007

Jessica Simpson. James Carville. Scott Donahoo. The Verizon "Can You Hear Me Now?" Guy. Annoying? To many folks, absolutely. But not irksome enough to get past the first round of The Sun's NCAA-style tournament aimed at picking America's most overexposed celebrity. More than 2,500 readers cast votes online in the first round, and second-round voting is under way. The biggest winners, or, more accurately, losers - those who are voted most annoying advance - were Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Donald Trump, Tom Cruise, Rosie O'Donnell and Ann Coulter, all of whom won in landslides.

James Carville, who molded Bill Clinton's first presidential race around the solid notion "It's the economy, stupid," is one of the executive producers of the new, all-star version of Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1946 novel, All the King's Men. Carville should have pasted a similar slogan on the set of this misguided, maladroit movie: "It's the politics, stupid." The writer-director Steve Zaillian fails the material at the basic level of dramatizing the bond between a people's politician and the people.

Pity poor Joe. It is his first baseball season, and his mother's a sportswriter." That's how I began one of the first essays I ever wrote about my family life. It seems like a million years ago now. All this time later, this column should begin: "Pity poor Joe. He's a Marine and his mother is an aging hippie." My son graduates this week from the U.S. Naval Academy, and he has elected to join the U.S. Marine Corps. I am filled with an odd mix of pride and dread, but for the moment I am concentrating on having a good time.

Before Tuesday's election, political scientist Larry J. Sabato had just one question for readers of his "Crystal Ball" online newsletter. "When has an incumbent ever won when he is tied with his challenger on election eve?" wrote Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "The answer is never. ... So George W. Bush needs to beat history, and the polls, to win the election." Yesterday, the day after Bush did just that to win a second term, Sabato acknowledged that this campaign has undermined some of the tenets that have governed modern political thinking -- and suggested some new ones.

WASHINGTON - Before former President Bill Clinton went under the knife for heart surgery, news reports say, he offered 90 minutes of advice by telephone from his hospital bed to Sen. John Kerry on how Mr. Kerry could revive his presidential candidacy. That would be a phone chat on which I would love to have had a wiretap. Imagine its educational, as well as entertainment, value. Mr. Kerry could hardly find a better tutor than Mr. Clinton, the self-declared "Comeback Kid" who made his second-place finish in the 1992 New Hampshire primary sound like a landslide victory.

There is little to call James Carville that he hasn't been called already: Serpent head. Slimy worm. Bottom-feeder. Court jester. Hatchet man. Pit bull. Corporal Cueball. Product of the love scene in Deliverance. Fish that swam too close to a nuclear reactor. Odious. Foul-mouthed bore. Frothing rabid dog. His deeds, views, looks - it's all fair game, he says. Having done his share of jabbing, Carville's willing to take his licks, or even an occasional pummeling. "I might be," he admits, in good ol' boy drawl, "the single most unsympathetic character in American politics."

Washington. -- Three years ago, a senator from Pennsylvania was killed in an airplane crash. Harris Wofford, the Democrat chosen to fill his seat, faced an instant threat. His Republican rival, former governor Dick Thornburgh, was 40 points ahead in the polls. To turn things around, the Wofford-for-Senate campaign needed a powerhouse campaign issue.It picked health care.At first, the choice seemed an odd one. Here was a blue-collar state full of small coal, steel and farming towns hurting from recession.

To the list of love affairs that had tragic endings -- Romeo and Juliet, Tristram and Isolde, Cathy and Heathcliff, Deborah Norville and the "Today Show," Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing -- you may now add the names of Mick and Jerry.I refer, of course, to those two crazy, fun kids: Mick "I can't get no satisfaction" Jagger and Jerry "I just wanna be your No. 1 girl" Hall.The word on the street is that Mick and Jerry are Splitsville. Of course, some people say that while this development is tres sad, it does not strike them as tres tragic.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Bill Clinton won't go away. He's pictured on the April 8 cover of Newsweek flying the New York-Washington shuttle. With what he gets for speeches (reportedly $200,000 to $300,000 overseas and $100,000 and up domestically), not to mention his $12 million book deal, he could afford a private jet, but this is about image. Mr. Clinton tells Newsweek that in hindsight he would not have pardoned financier Marc Rich, but based only on political considerations -- not principle.

WASHINGTON - Responding to charges from George W. Bush, Al Gore told a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group yesterday that he has fought U.S. attempts to bully Israel in the past - including one by Bush's father - and would continue to do so as president. A day earlier, Bush accused the Clinton-Gore administration in an address to the same organization of interfering in Israel's domestic politics and foreign policy. "I stood against the efforts of two previous administrations to pressure Israel to take stands against its own view of what was in Israel's best interests," the vice president said in a speech to the American Israel Political Affairs Committee.